Thursday, October 21, 2010

New York-based artist William Brovelli is selling control over his artistic output for 7 years, in an conceptual piece entitled "Seven Year Itch." The project begins with an auction bid on his production on eBay.

The artist follows others who have used eBay to stir the art world pot a bit, generate buzz and and perhaps find themselves as endentured servants of the Art Review Power 100 for a period of ... years! Christophe Büchel famously auctioned off his place at Manifesta several years ago. Artist Sal Randolf bought the placement and created the Free Manifesta.

Brovelli writes: "This is an interactive piece titled: 'Seven Year Itch' in which I am offering the collector the right to suspend my creative output for a period of 7 years. This act of relinquishing control to the purchaser creates a scenario in which the collector becomes a primary figure in the forming of the history of the piece… as well as letting me off the hook for a while."

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

JR is a 27-year old photographer/grafitti artist, or graffeur as he calls it, and his modus operandi is to photograph locals and then print the images large and plaster them just about everywhere, on steps, trains, houses, walls as a kind of homage to the people he admires. His efforts are global and his works appear in cities (and on walls) around the world – from Nairobi to Paris to Cambodia to Palestine. We, at SFW, find this work absolutely gorgeous, amazing and well, just take a look for yourselves...

From the TED.com website: JR exhibits his photographs in the biggest art gallery on the planet. His work is presented freely in the streets of the world, catching the attention of people who are not museum visitors. His work mixes Art and Action; it talks about commitment, freedom, identity and limit.

JR’s career as a photographer began when he found a camera in the Paris subway. In his first major project, in 2001 and 2002, JR toured and photographed street art around Europe, tracking the people who communicate their messages to the world on walls. His first large-format postings began appearing on walls in Paris and Rome in 2003. His first book, Carnet de rue par JR, about street artists, appeared in 2005.

In 2006, he launched “Portrait of a Generation,” huge-format portraits of suburban “thugs” from Paris’ notorious banlieues, posted on the walls of the bourgeois districts of Paris. This illegal project became official when Paris City Hall wrapped its own building in JR’s photos.

In 2007, with business partner Marco, he did “Face 2 Face,” which some consider the biggest illegal photo exhibition ever. JR and a grassroots team of community members posted huge portraits of Israelis and Palestinians face to face in eight Palestinian and Israeli cities, and on the both sides of the security fence/separation barrier.

He embarked on a long international trip in 2008 for his exhibition “Women Are Heroes,” a project underlining the dignity of women who are the target of conflict. In 2010, the film Women Are Heroes was presented at the Cannes Film Festival and received a long-standing ovation.

JR is currently working on two projects: “Wrinkles of the City,” which questions the memory of a city and its inhabitants; and Unframed, which reinterprets famous photographs and photographers by taking photos from museum archives and exposing them to the world as huge-format photos on the walls of cities. It asks the question: What is the art piece then? The original photo, the photo “unframed” by JR or both?

JR creates pervasive art that spreads uninvited on buildings of Parisian slums, on walls in the Middle East, on broken bridges in Africa or in favelas in Brazil. People in the exhibit communities, those who often live with the bare minimum, discover something absolutely unnecessary but utterly wonderful. And they don’t just see it, they make it. Elderly women become models for a day; kids turn into artists for a week. In this art scene, there is no stage to separate the actors from the spectators.

After these local exhibitions, two important things happen: The images are transported to London, New York, Berlin or Amsterdam where new people interpret them in the light of their own personal experience. And ongoing art and craft workshops in the originating community continue the work of celebrating everyone who lives there.

As he is anonymous and doesn’t explain his huge full-frame portraits of people making faces, JR leaves the space empty for an encounter between the subject/protagonist and the passer-by/ interpreter.This is what JR is working on. Raising questions…

Susie Hollands, founder and director of Vignt Paris, has been helping people find apartments in Paris for nearly a dozen years. Vignt recently relaunched her company website with an opening slide show that shows a ton of wonderful Paris images. Need an apartment in Paris for a week, a month, a year? Check it out: http://vingtparis.com/

Sunday, October 17, 2010

Roberta Fallon and Libby Rosof founded the Zero .1% for Art Commission to bridge the gap between ordinary people and art. theartblog, established in 2003, is an outgrowth of that mission.

Roberta Fallon makes art, writes about art and thinks about art probably too much. She’s proud to claim part ownership of THEartblog with her dear friend and long-time collaborator, Libby. As a child in Milwaukee Roberta put on puppet shows in the garage and sold popcorn for a penny and realized she loved an audience but had no head for business. Married to Steve and with three children, Oona, Max and Stella, Roberta has written about art for Philadelphia Weekly, Artnet, Art Review, Art on Paper, Philadelphia Inquirer and Art and Auction, and has taught and been a visiting critic at Tyler School of Art, St. Joseph’s University and Cranbrook Academy of Art. Read posts by Roberta»

Libby Rosof I credit my husband Murray and kids Alex and Minna for making me take popular culture seriously. As for the art, I gave it up in the 10th grade in Brooklyn. I wouldn’t have spent so many years on art or spent all my time writing artblog if not for my good buddy and long-time collaborator Roberta–it’s all her fault. I founded the award-winning publication the Penn Current at the University of Pennsylvania, and I’ve taught in public school, the Journalism Department at Temple University and at Tyler School of Art. Enough already! Read posts by Libby»

Saturday, October 16, 2010

Frieze London is a veritable shopping mall this weekend with Ten Embarassed Men wandering the fair in white shirts looking, well embarrased. Perhaps about the shortage of women artists? Or maybe because they're just men and it's their nature. Performance is by Annika Stroom.

David Shrigley, the irreverent UK scribbler is there making free temporary tattoos for visitors. Don't wash them off. Here's his doggy, who by the way, is dead.

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

It’s hard to be a bad boy in the art world these days, but Mike Ballard is trying. His installation “Whose Coat Is That Jacket You’re Wearing?” fulfills a contemporary art world wet dream ... Just in time for the Frieze Art Fair in London. Exit Through The Cloak Room!